Zelda changes the game again with fresh, imaginative but retro adventure

Blending old with new is nothing unusual for Nintendo, yet it never seems to run out of fresh, surprising and exhilarating ways to do it. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom puts the titular princess in the role of the hero, and completely changes the series’ approach to combat and items by giving her the ability to copy and paste just about every object and enemy she sees.

But this doesn’t feel like a spin-off or an experiment; it’s a full-fledged Zelda that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with other top-down favourites such as Link to the Past or Link Between Worlds.

And, if you have no idea what those games are because you joined the series during the Switch console generation, this is the perfect way for you to get a taste of the classic Zelda set-up.

Blending the dungeons and exploration of a classic 2D Zelda with the player-led puzzle solutions of the modern games, and the wonderful toyetic visual design of 2019’s Link’s Awakening remake with the fresh delight of summoning Moblins and Peahats and other Zelda enemies to fight for you, it’s a smart and unexpectedly deep adventure that begins as a novelty but gradually reveals itself to be a masterpiece.

In Echoes of Wisdom, Zelda’s kingdom is being torn apart by dangerous rifts, trapping its inhabitants in another world.

Past meets present

This famed series had been running for more than 30 years when 2017’s Breath of the Wild changed everything. Moving away from a prescriptive linear design to introduce a huge open world and intermingled systems of creative freedom, it quickly became the best-selling Zelda of all time. Last year it was followed up by Tears of the Kingdom, with an even greater focus on player agency and lateral thinking.

Echoes of Wisdom, then, infuses an old-style top-down Zelda world with the current series’ imaginative flair, and to that end it’s remarkably successful. The map is immediately reminiscent of 1991’s Link to the Past, just expanded in all directions to be much more vast, and many of the secrets and dungeons carry a nourishingly familiar vibe. But at the same time, whenever you defeat an enemy or encounter certain objects for the first time, Zelda can copy them to her ever-expanding clipboard of “Echoes”, and reproduce them at any other point in the game. You can also “Bind” to any object, pulling it around as you move or letting it pull you.

This desert wall is no match for a trampoline.

The game kicks off right at the end of a typical heroic Link adventure, details of which are unknown to the player (and Zelda, who’s been kidnapped). But when Link falls in the ultimate battle, Zelda is united with a magical sprite who imparts the Tri Rod, a magic staff that provides the new abilities. The result is a drastic break from convention, where you’re no longer relying on authored puzzles and specific items to progress. Instead, you’re experimenting with more than 100 Echoes and their properties, from size and weight to things such as fire propagation or electrical conduction, to invent your own solutions. The humble bed becomes a multipurpose tool for building in addition to being a handy portable resting spot, while stranger items such as cubes of gravity-defying water require more experimenting to determine their various uses.

From early on you can rig up structures that let you jump fences to get to areas you “shouldn’t” be, and coming up with a wild idea before discovering that it actually works (and was accounted for by the developers) is always a thrill. There are so many optional caves and crannies that reward your wise Echo use with treasure, and sly use of your tools to rout enemies or avoid traps often feels like cheating or getting away with something, which is a sensation familiar from the shrines in Breath of the Wild.

The world doesn’t quite bend to your will like it does in Tears of the Kingdom, but then it’s a different type of world. Exploring the village surrounding Hyrule Castle or splashing around in the ruins of the Faron Wetlands feels nothing like the lonely open worlds of the new games; Echoes of Wisdom is dense and filled with characters, activities, side quests and secrets.

The game was co-developed by Grezzo, a studio behind previous Zelda remakes such as Link’s Awakening, and as with a certain side-activity in that game you can feel here an intense love for the Zelda of the 1990s, and a desire to create a game where players act as dungeon master.

Wisdom above all

Having Zelda as a main character is a frequent fan request, but it’s far from straightforward. Should she simply act like Link but look like Zelda? Should the entire game change to accommodate a magic user rather than a sword fighter? The solution in Echoes of Wisdom is a brilliant one, which I think should satisfy fans even as it provides a genuinely interesting experience for newcomers.

Zelda has always been presented in the series as the manifestation of wisdom, as distinct from Link who wields courage, and I love that her new powers reflect that. Both characters are ultimately needed to deal with the world-ending catastrophe in this game, as usual, but players are required to wield the Tri Rod in a way Zelda can and Link simply wouldn’t — with perception and intelligence.

Some underground areas are presented from a fixed side-on perspective, which changes how the Echoes work.

The shift in perspective also factors in to how sublime many of the dozens of side-quests are. This is the best-realised the kingdom of Hyrule and its people have ever been in a 2D Zelda, and that’s thanks in part to Zelda being a wise and compassionate ruler. Whether you’re exploring stories about the various races and their struggles, helping out with a post-catastrophe rebuild, or partaking in sillier elements like the smoothie-making or horse riding, Zelda feels more involved than Link usually does.

Zelda’s powers fundamentally change the approach to combat as well, and at first, it can feel like you’re a passive participant, spawning friendly enemies to deal with nasty ones while you stay out of the way. But as your collection of Echoes grows, you become more familiar with their properties and the game introduces more complex scenarios, the system becomes quite satisfying.

Certain creatures will attack immediately when you produce them, which can be used as a direct assault, while others don’t fight at all but can provide useful battlefield effects like distractions or electricity-enhancing rain. You can build shelters or higher ground, use Bind to your advantage by repositioning friends and foes, or flood the room with small but deadly pests. And, by using Link’s blade, you can transform Zelda into a courageous sword fighter to hit directly as in the traditional games. But this consumes magical energy that isn’t always easy to find, so you need to use it judiciously.

This game is the confident realisation of a bundle of impossible gameplay ideas, which also lands thematically and aesthetically, and I’d argue is the result of a Nintendo at the height of its power. But Nintendo’s focus is clearly on finding new and surprising ways to reinvent beloved formulas for fans new and old, rather than on issues of a more technical nature, so in that respect the game is not perfect.

As with Link’s Awakening, the frame rate in Echoes of Wisdom will reliably shudder as the screen scrolls in wide open areas, which would be a turn-off in a game any less engaging. The imaginative possibilities of the Echoes also exceed Nintendo’s ability to make a suitable menu system; you can only really search by last used, most used or last learnt, meaning a lot of good Echoes can get lost at the end of all the lists and you’ll forget you have them.

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